Noah Kelly studied acting at A.C.T. & received a B.A. in Theatre Arts from Humboldt State University, focusing on Physical Theatre. While at HSU Noah co-founded 'Lemmings', an on-campus performance art troupe, which provided the experience & catalyst for co-founding RIPE. An accomplished writer/performer/designer, he has worked in a variety of roles with several Bay Area artists & organizations, including Julia Norton, Marina Vendrell, The Actor's Collective, Taproot Dance Project, Crowded Fire, Almaden Films, The San Francisco Mime Troupe, New Conservatory Theatre Center, and Missile Motion Pictures.
The daughter of an actor and a stage manager, Sarah McKereghan has studied with Bay Area companies such as A.C.T. and the California Shakespeare Festival. Although Shakespeare was her first passion, she discovered her love for writing and performing original scripts while getting a degree in Theatre Arts at Humboldt State University. Sarah has worked with other local companies- Upon These Boards, Combined Artform Entertainment, and Last Planet Theatre Company. She is also a Board member of Upon These Boards. As cofounder of RIPE, Sarah hopes that through developing and producing new and imaginative work she can bring theatre to a whole new audience.
Peter Q. Parish, our resident Technical Director and all around handy man, has worked in many capacities for RIPE, including stage manager, director, actor, mask designer, set designer, lighting designer, sound designer, props master, and much more. Peter, artistic director and co-founder of California Artists for Education (CAFE), is an artist-in-residence at Redwood high school and a part time drama teacher with both Sir Francis Drake High School and Marin School of Art and Technology, all in Marin County, California. As an artist, Peter wears many hats: fool, sculptor, actor/performer, director, puppeteer, maskmaker, website designer, and videographer. Peter received a B.A. in Theatre Arts from Humboldt State University. He has worked with local companies (acting and designing) such as Upon These Boards and Word For Word.
Mark Rachel is honored to have been invited into the RIPE company. He made his RIPE debut in Cicada, as the "semi-sinister" Dr. Clyde Martin. Mark is a native californian, splitting time between the Bay Area and San Diego. He has a B.A. in Speech and Communications from SFSU and trained for three years at the Bennett Theatre Lab in SF, after which he co-founded an improvised film company Barewitness Films, LLC. Mark co-directed and is currently editing a completely improvised feature film, Crossrodas Gallery, which he hopes to screen and submit to festivals in late '05. Mark is very disgusted with the current political environment, but is hopeful that art and love can conquer the fear that is so prevalent in our society.

Liz Roddy has worked as technician and stage manager for the EXIT Theater for two years of the SF Fringe Festival, the DIVAfest for Sarah McKereghan's Ambivalent Geneses, and the Labor Fest, and Steven Karwoski's Adventures of a Substitute Teacher.
Ms. Roddy graduated from Sonoma State University, where she received her B.A.'s in Literature and Theater Arts. Technician, stage manager, DJ/sound artist, and theater administrator, Ms. Roddy has worked with ODC Theater, The Western Stage, ABYDOS Director's Theater, and Pocket Opera. You can visit Liz Monday nights at her weekly,"Community" at The Transfer in SF, where she DJ's funk, soul, hip hop, and new beats.
John Andrew Stillions is from Shipshewana Indiana. He attended Indiana University where he studied everything from cognitive science with Regan Smith to contemporary soul and jazz music with Dave Baker but in the end settled on anthropology and theater. He began his California acting career in the surrounding areas of the Bay area. His first show, The Dining Room by A.R. Gurney was at the community theater in Danville, Ca. This was a start of five shows in community theater where the education was priceless. The giving nature was only surpassed by the experience these acting communities gave him and is the actor he is today because of that. Shows "in the big city" have been little different. Before joining RIPE he performed with the group in Cicada. This show was a collaborative effort and the experience left a very sweet taste. He then performed with Last Planet Theatre in two shows and has subsequently joined them as well. Andy is very very excited to be a member of RIPE and looks forward to creating the best work that San Francisco, or New York for that matter, has ever seen.
Deborah Wade has worked for the past ten years in the Bay Area performing in theatre, sketch comedy, improv and commercials and a few independent films. In addition to performing she has written and performed a solo show "Collecting Clues With Nancy Drew". She co-wrote and directed"Looking Then Pointing" for the 2003 Fringe Festival. Her first full length play is entitled "Hardly Breathing". She has found a real home with RIPE Theatre in their pursuit of original scripts that have fun while examining life issues that are quite different than how they appear on the surface. Deborah received a B.A. in English from UCSB.
Amanda Ortmayer has been a proud member of RIPE since she designed the lights for "Arrhythmica" in March 2006. She also designed lights for "Hardly Breathing." "The Necessity of Hank" marks her first set design and directorial opportunity with RIPE Theatre. She has had the pleasure to be a designer and/or collaborator on several projects, including: Second Wind’s "A Beautiful Home for the Incurable" and "The Gravedigger’s Tango;" mugwumpin’s "Symphony of Frogs" and "Super: Anti: Reluctant;" several DIVAfest shows, including "Boxcar Bertha," "The Mandala Olive Project," "Beauty and the Breast," and "Crystal Daze;" and Sean Owens' "Odd by Nature," "1" and "2." She has had the opportunity to sing or get thrown down the stairs with "The DIVAfest Cabaret On the Sixes" and If:Than Productions' "Meet the Campbell’s."  

*Images by Noah Kelly

 

Guest Artists

Gabrielle Fisher, Russell Gilland, Maia Halperin, Miranda Calderon, Kristene Withekaye, Jess Ryan, Tony Koester, Chris DeJong, Trish Tillman, Matmos, Julia Norton, Tipsy, Marina Vendrell, Kara Vassily, Raymond Enfield Parish, foolsforhire, Chida Chaemchaeng, Ryan Max Wilkes, Michelle Talgarow, Kerry Gudjohnsen, Curtis O, H.P. Mendoza, and Val Kelly.